Chefs
rely heavily on their sense of taste and smell to cook -- especially if
they're blind like MasterChef contestant Christine Ha.

"I have
to depend a lot more on the other senses to cook -- taste, smell, how
certain ingredients feel," she tells PEOPLE. "I'll know if a piece of
meat is close to being done by how it feels against my hand or
utensils."

Christine, 33, has been diagnosed with neuromyelitis
optica (NMO), a condition of the central nervous system that affects the
optic nerves and spinal cord.

"The very first bout I had was in
1999," she says of the condition. "It only happened in one eye then. It
didn't recover completely so I learned to adjust to seeing out of one
eye. In 2004, it decreased to the level where I could no longer drive.
In 2007, it decreased to where I am now. I have to use a cane to walk
around or take somebody's arm and be guided." Christine is ready
to prove herself on the show, which premieres Monday (9 p.m. ET) on
Fox. "It's hard to see ingredients," she says. "I have to figure out by
smell and touch if an ingredient is fresh. Cutting with knives --
fortunately, I'm pretty careful and I have a proper knife technique.
Since I've lost my vision, I've cut myself once. And it was minor. I've
never had to get stitches. It's really about being organized, careful
and using my other senses."

And she won't be getting any special
help from the judges Gordon Ramsay, Graham Elliot and Joe Bastianich.
"Joe, Gordon and Graham didn't treat me any differently," she says.
"They told me what was wrong and right with my dish. There was
constructive criticism. I feel like they judged fairly." Still,
nerves were a factor for Christine when she began the competition. "I
had never been this nervous in my life -- even on my wedding day," she
says. "It was the most anxiety I've felt in a day. It's already scary to
be in an environment you can't soak up visually what's happening around
you. It was challenging and scary."

WE HAVE WITNESSED SO MANY DISABLED PEOPLE ALWAYS DETERMINE TO PROVE THEMSELVES OVER AND OVER AGAIN. THEY LOVE TO DEFY THE ODDS AND NEVER FEEL THAT THEIR DISABILITY CAN STOP THEM FROM DOING WHAT THEY WANT OR TO PURSUE THEIR AMBITION. SOMETIMES I FEEL SO ASHAMED WHEN I FEEL HELPLESS EVEN THOUGH I FULLY CAPABLE TO CHANGE THE SITUATION.